Durango Recycling Center services continue to run normally, only with more latex gloves and social distancing to keep workers healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The novel coronavirus spreads mostly through respiratory droplets, and surface spread poses a lower risk. The virus can live on surfaces for hours to multiple days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That means surfaces like the plastics, cardboards and other materials that flow into recycling and trash centers.
In response, the center closed its public recycling drop-off, and managers are creating contingency plans in case of staff shortages or quarantine directives.
“Our trash pickup is fully automated. The driver typically never leaves the truck,” said Levi Lloyd, director of city operations for Durango. “If they do ... they would be wearing gloves.”
Durango’s residential trash and recycling pickup drivers might need to pick up stray items or touch trash can lids, Lloyd said.
A study by the CDC, several universities and the National Institute of Health said the virus survives for 24 hours on cardboard and two to three days on plastics.
Trash and recycling pickup drivers arrive for shifts at staggered intervals as a social distancing measure to limit the virus’s spread.
The staff has contingency plans in case there is a national, mandatory 14-day quarantine. Essential services would likely continue under those circumstances, Lloyd said.
“We can’t have trash piling up for an unending period of time, obviously,” he said.
Durango recycling ships to Albuquerque. If New Mexico issued a mandatory quarantine, Durango would stockpile compacted material in a prepared storage space at the recycling center.
Customers can help the recycling process by breaking down boxes, taking lids off plastic containers and crushing cans to make materials smaller, Lloyd said.
Durango staff delivers trash to the waste transfer station. Waste Corporation of America delivers it to the landfill in Bondad. If WCA loses staff availability or cannot continue delivering the trash to the landfill, Durango will start transferring to Bondad, Lloyd said.
“This being what it is, I don’t know if there’s a great way to predict what’s going to happen,” Lloyd said. “But (all waste partners) do have contingency plans in place.”
smullane@ durangoherald.com
